INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Newly released Census Bureau estimates show Indiana continuing its slowest
period of population growth in three decades.

The population
figures released Thursday show that Indiana added about 20,000 people last
year for a 0.31 percent population growth.

Indiana University
demographer Matt Kinghorn tells The Indianapolis Star the last two years
have been the state’s slowest period of population gains since the late
1980s.

He says a
long-running trend of people moving from the Midwest to the South and
Southwest is helping drive Indiana’s stagnant population growth.

The county-level
estimates show Indiana’s five fastest-growing counties are the suburban
counties that surround Indianapolis. But the Fort Wayne area and southern
Indiana’s counties near Louisville, Kentucky, also are seeing significant
growth.

Chicago area
population slips

CHICAGO (AP) -
Newly released Census Bureau estimates show the Chicago-area’s population
has declined two years in a row.

The Chicago Tribune
and Crain’s Chicago Business report estimates released Thursday show the
Chicago metropolitan area lost 19,570 people in the year ending last June,
dipping to 9.513 million. The Census Bureau says that’s bigger than the drop
of 11,324 people the year before.

The Chicago
metropolitan statistical area includes Chicago and its suburbs and it
extends into parts of Wisconsin and Indiana. Figures show the Chicago area’s
population has risen from 9.461 million during the 2010 census. The pattern
is similar to that of other big Midwest cities.

The numbers don’t
break down the data by municipality. Figures about population in cities are
expected to be available later this year.